Locomotive
by CannibalQueen
Summary: "They were in love once. It was years ago, and it was anything but blissful, but it happened. They fell and crushed and smashed and shattered, and they got up weary and bruised — different people, the same people. But love existed in that chaos, maybe a little twisted and bent, but maybe pure. It was an ugly kind of love. It was real." Ultimately 3 parts — maybe 4, if I so choose.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: This will ultimately be in 3 parts, possibly 4 if the third part gets any longer. Actually, maybe 2 if there's no interest in it. The title is inspired by the song "Locomotive" by Alex Winston, but I never reference the lyrics in the actual story and the plot is tangentially connected to the song at best. As always, let me know what you think. I'm weird in that I'd prefer ranting about this than just praise. I learn more from criticism, even if it's just "this blows."  
**

* * *

Artemis clutches her textbook tight to her chest as the wind blows into her face. Winter in Metropolis isn't awful, not nearly as bad as it was in Gotham, but she'd picked the wrong jacket, figuring she'd be back at her apartment before sunset. Clearly, that isn't the case, and Artemis walks home in the cold under the bright yellow light of street lamps, her feet dragging quietly on the cement. She remembers a time when she could walk without making a sound, when she still fought villains on a team. It's been three — maybe almost four — years since then, and suddenly twenty-three just feels so _old._

So she walks down the streets with a strange sense of displacement. She could have taken the subway — it would've been faster — but it was only a twenty-minute walk home anyway, and Artemis feels vaguely nostalgic. One foot goes in front of the other, and she looks down to see the leather of her boots crinkle at her toes with every step. Then she hears yelling, and the unmistakable sound of a fight under way.

Artemis follows the sound to a nearby alleyway, where a scrawny guy in a grey hoodie is getting his ass pummeled by a mugger. And she may not be a hero anymore, but Artemis is not about to let the poor guy die on the street. She drops her textbook and backpack, grabbing the mugger's arm and kneeing him in the gut, twisting his arm back. He cries out and falls to his knees. Artemis is rusty on her fighting skills, but she knows enough about fighting people bigger than she is to win against a basic mugger. He writhes in her grip for a second while she composes herself.

"When I let go you're going to run," she says, her voice flat and even. "If you hesitate for even a second, the police will need dental records to identify you. Are we clear?"

He nods hurriedly, and when she lets go, he scampers and runs away, his eyes wide and his arm held against his chest.

She then turns her attention to the man on the ground. He's griping about the whole situation, but she doesn't see pools of blood, which she figures is a good sign. She asks him if he's all right as she helps him to his feet.

When he stands up she sees him. And she's a little panicked, because she doesn't just recognize him, she _really _recognizes him, and the streetlights show pieces of red hair sticking out from inside his hood and his bright green eyes staring right back at her. He's a little taller and a little broader and his face is just slightly gaunter, but she knows it's him.

"Artemis," he chokes out, his voice tentative but lacking the adolescent chirp she remembers. "I haven't seen you in… well, forever. How are you? Why haven't you been around? And why on earth are you in Metropolis?"

"I'm fine, Wally. I think the bigger issue here is how you are. How do you even manage to get your ass kicked like that when you have superpowers?"

"Hey, I can't risk blowing my cover." Wally shrugs. "I was just walking down the street when he attacked me."

"That tends to happen when you don't give them your money." By this point, any sort of sympathy she was feeling two minutes ago has dissipated.

"And what exactly makes you think that I have any cash on me?"

"Only the fact that you do." Artemis smirks as she says it, and picks up her bag and book.

He tries to defend himself by saying he only had twenty dollars with him, and he didn't even remember he had it at first, but Artemis just rolls her eyes and laughs. And Wally then fumbles around from one conversation topic to another, while subconsciously walking with Artemis to her house. He explains why he's in Metropolis (League business. Wally says he can't tell her anything else because technically it's a secret. Artemis doesn't really care), what's going on in his life (his aunt Iris' birthday is next week), and what plans he has while he's here (he doesn't have any). For a moment, they shift back into their former selves — Wally rambling on, always cracking jokes, and Artemis tolerating it, half annoyed, half entertained. At one point, she feels her insides pitter-patter. But the moment is fleeting, and the book in her hands and the hair that now only grazes her shoulders anchor her to the present. Wally notices her shift the textbook to carry it under her left arm.

"I never really pegged you as a physics person," he says, glancing at her textbook.

"Archery is a lot like physics. It makes sense, I guess." She doesn't look at him, just pushes a piece of hair behind her ear.

"So you're still doing archery?" he asks, and though she doesn't look up at him, Artemis can hear the hopefulness in his voice and _just knows _his eyes are lighting up right now.

She crushes him. "Not… not really. Sometimes for fun, sure, but I'm not in the hero-ing thing anymore. Just a PhD student now." She smiles at him, but he looks disappointed — in her and in the situation. He congratulates her on her studies, but it's just small talk. Artemis is dying to steer the conversation away from her personal failures, so she asks about her old teammates.

"Are Conner and Megan still together?" she asks.

"No. They broke up before you left, remember?"

"I do, but I just thought…" Her voice trails off. "Is Dick with Zatanna?"

"No."

"Kori?"

"No."

"What about that one Batgirl? The one with the red hair — Barbara?"

"Maybe. I don't really know. It's hard to tell what's going on with those two."

Artemis chuckles softly. "It's hard to tell what's going on with Dick in general. The guy is shrouded in so many layers of mystery."

"He's not half as complicated as you are. I mean, you gave us all about a week's notice before you left and we never saw you again. Not that we didn't try." He gulps. "Well, I did… at least. I tried to get Dick to find you, but he said he couldn't."

"I bet he could in five seconds."

"He said he wouldn't."

Artemis looks down at the ground, guilty. She can't blame Wally, though. Nothing he's saying is unfair. She was scared and naïve and she couldn't handle giving so much of herself to fighting crime. She doesn't regret the decision, but she regrets how she made it. "I'm sorry," she says softly, and places her hand on his shoulder. Pitter-patter.

"It's fine now, I guess. I mean, it's not like you were very smart to begin with," he jokes.

"Well, riddle me this, Wallace: if I'm the moron here, then why have you been walking towards my apartment for the last ten minutes?" She pointed to a building 100 feet in front of them.

Wally stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. Artemis laughed and grabbed him by the arm. "Come on, you're here anyway, you might as well come in. We have catching up to do, apparently. I don't suppose you have to be anywhere right now, do you?"

Wally shook his head. "All right then," said Artemis. "Though I have to warn you that the only food I have is made in five minutes in a microwave. So I hope you like instant oatmeal."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: This update took an eternity and a half, I know. I'm working on a lot of stuff, including a lot of writing pieces, and this ends up ranking near the bottom of the totem pole. I'm also naturally a slow writer, reflected in and probably amplified by my tendency to write with pen. I mean, words on a computer is just light, but ink on paper is substantial. It feels felonious to write in anything but pen or pencil, especially since I write so slow that typing makes me nervous (I hate being rushed). So that is my excuse for my lack of update. This story is just for fun, and it's really for my own practice more than anything. If you enjoy it, cool, but if you have any advice to help me improve, that would be mucho excellente (I don't speak Spanish). This chapter is actually moderately terrible, but frankly I'm too tired to give shits. Bear with me, this chapter sets up the ending, which should be up within a week or two and will be less excruciatingly horrible than this.**

* * *

They were in love once. It was years ago, and it was anything but blissful, but it happened. They fell and crushed and smashed and shattered, and they got up weary and bruised — different people, the same people. But love existed in that chaos, maybe a little twisted and bent, but maybe pure. It was an ugly kind of love. It was real.

* * *

They were sprawled out on the floor of the cave. Which, if they were smart, they wouldn't have been because it was late and everyone else had the good sense to go to bed. The way Wally saw it, this was Artemis' fault because she refused to operate on a normal sleep schedule, and decided that 1AM was an ideal time for literature, and he had to stay up too because really, was it so awful that he wanted to spend time with her? The way Artemis saw it, she could go to sleep whenever she damn well pleased, and really, her reading would go much faster if Wally wasn't sitting next to her inhaling gallons of ice cream. She liked to call these moments, "Quiet Time Interrupted By Clingy Boyfriend." Wally called them, "Boring."

About halfway through his second tub of strawberry ice cream, Wally decided to turn on the TV. Because hey, Artemis was pretty, but he could only sit there listening to music and eating while she read her book and generally emphasized the _quiet time _aspect of this arrangement before it got old. But Cat Grant could barely get a sentence into her report on the 5th supposed End of the World this year before Artemis demanded that he turn the TV off.

"I'll turn the volume down," Wally offered. "All you're doing is reading and I'm bored"

"Wow, that really sounds like a problem a book could fix," she muttered, her eyes focused on her reading.

"I don't have a book. Read me yours."

Artemis looked up from the novel to raise an eyebrow at him. "I highly doubt you'd be interested in a selection from _How to Murder Your Boyfriend and Get Away with it."_

"Well then," Wally feigned an offended reaction, but conceding to turning off the television. "Aren't we just diabolical today?'

Artemis smirked. "I do try," she added in a singsong voice. But seriously, just go to sleep, Wallace. Your ice cream is melting and Julien is entering the seminary at Besancon. I have priorities."

He tapped his knee against hers. "The problem with that being I'd wake up and you be off gallivanting with fictional characters."

"Gallivanting?"

"Yes, gallivanting."

"Whoa, that's a big word. Congratulations. But the key issue here is why you're still up. Wallace Rudolph West, it is far past your bedtime."

"It's because I like you, even though you consistently insult my genius."

Artemis gave him a look and murmured, "I think that's been established in the past three years," before pulling herself towards him to peck his lips.

"Yeah? Because I feel like it could use more establishing." He flashed her a toothy grin. She rolled her eyes. "And Artemis, it's been 3 years 5 months. You're terrible at this."

She just scrunched her face and pushed his arm. Wally continued, "I mean, I know that not everyone can be as thoughtful and attentive as _I _am, but you'd think it'd be easy enough to remember January 1st."

"Shut up."

"Oh, that hurts. Right in the chest," he retorted, placing a hand over his heart. He sighed, and then continued, "I'm actually to go to bed, because unlike you, I'm not completely deranged — I worry about you, by the way — and you should probably get some sleep too because we have a mission briefing tomorrow morning and also you're ugly when you're tired." He got up and extended his arm out to her as an offer to help her up.

Artemis sat there and laughed, but it was more of a snicker, like Wally was the butt of his own joke. "I'm actually good. I'm sort of thinking about maybe quitting this whole" she gesticulated, "…thing, anyway."

Wally froze, only moving to contort his face into a look of shock. After a moment, "I'm sorry, you're _what?_ What _thing _is there to quit?"

Artemis realized she was probably more tired than she thought she was, but it was too late because the words were already out and Wally was already staring at her. "… Surprise!" she managed awkwardly, but neither of them laughed.

"Don't joke around, Artemis. This is serious. When exactly were you planning on telling any of us this?" Artemis forgot that he could be serious sometimes. She felt her heart sink into her stomach.

Maybe she was supposed to feel guilty, but somehow, her guilt ended up coming across angry and she snapped, "I haven't even decided on anything yet!" And after a gulp, she added in a softer voice, "And I told you, didn't I?" She didn't look at him, and her voice trembled just barely like she was uncomfortable.

Wally sighed and sat back down next to her. "It's okay. I mean — it's not _okay, _but it's all right. Or, at least, it's going to be." He grabbed her hand. "Just take your time and make sure you make a good decision. I can keep a secret."

Artemis knew Wally was actually fairly terrible at keeping secrets, but he had this way of convincing her to trust him. Which went against everything that had been beat into her since childhood, but maybe that's what love was. She felt stupid for holding his hand after letting it slip that she wasn't sure if she was going to stay on the team, and she felt stupid for even wanting to quit, but if she didn't do things because they were stupid, then she wouldn't have even been in this "Dating Wally" predicament to begin with, now would she?

* * *

**Don't know if any of you guys caught this, but Artemis is reading Le Rouge et le noir (or, The Red and The Black) by Stendhal, a 19th century Frenchman who writes far better than I do. The book can be hard to find, but if you do come across a copy, it's well worth reading. (Also, Wally has legitimate reason to be concerned about Artemis running off to gallivant with Julien Sorel because he is a perfect male specimen. Okay, I'll stop now. I'm sorry for my brain).**


End file.
